DELL Inspiron XPS M1210 Notebook Review. Page 6

Today we will look at an exciting ultra-compact portable computer optimized for today’s life and travels. The DELL Inspiron XPS system based on Intel Merom processor proved an excellent solution. Read more in our review!

Configuration

Like we said at the beginning of the review, the Dell Inspiron XPS M1210 is based on an Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 processor with a clock rate of 2.33GHz (a 65nm Merom core with a shared 4MB L2 cache).

Besides Intel’s Enhanced SpeedStep technology that gives the notebook’s software and BIOS control over the CPU frequency multiplier (to reduce it under low loads), this CPU supports Dynamic Power Coordination (the power consumption of the cores can be independently adjusted depending on the current load; one core may even slip into Deep Sleep mode with the lowest power consumption possible) and Dynamic Cache Sizing (unused cache segments can be turned off to reduce power consumption). For more information about Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors refer to our article called Intel Core 2 Duo in Notebooks: Centrino Duo Platform Refreshed.

Merom CPU

The refresh version of the Napa platform also incorporates an Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG adapter and an Intel Calistoga 945GM chipset. This chipset supports DDR2 SO-DIMMs, thus offering more memory bandwidth at lower power consumption, and a PCI Express x16 interface for an external graphics card. The South Bridge (ICH7-M) is connected to the North Bridge via a special-purpose Direct Media Interface and supports one Parallel ATA port, two Serial ATA ports, eight USB 2.0 ports and Intel High Definition Audio. It also offers six PCI Express x1 lanes to connect external devices. For more information about the Napa platform, visit the manufacturer’s website.

The i945GM chipset incorporates Intel’s Graphics Media Accelerator 950. As opposed to GMA 900, this integrated graphics core supports higher core frequencies (up to 400MHz) and a larger amount of dynamically allotted memory (up to 224MB). GMA 950 has four pixel pipelines and can map four textures per clock cycle. Like GMA 900, it supports DirectX 9 and Pixel Shader 2.0 on the GPU and Vertex Shader 3.0 and T&L on the CPU. GMA 950 is a fully DirectX 9-compliant, though. The detailed specification of the GMA 950 can be found at the manufacturer’s website.

There also exists a version of the Dell Inspiron XPS M1210 with a discrete graphics core Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 that supports TurboCache technology.

The Inspiron XPS M1210 is equipped with DDR2-533 SDRAM. The only accessible slot is occupied with a 512MB module. The memory works in dual-channel mode as the following screenshot shows:

We measured the temperature of the hottest spots on the notebook’s surfaces with an infrared thermometer after it had worked for half an hour in the Classic test mode of Battery Eater Pro 2.60 (the ambient temperature remained constant at 22°C during this test) and got the following numbers:

LCD panel – 40°C

Keyboard – 33°C

Bottom panel – 38°C

The table below lists the technical specs of the Dell Inspiron XPS M1210 and compares them with those of the ASUS W5F, which is going to be its opponent in our tests: